Cow jumps to death from moving stock truck

A Northland transport firm is investigating how a cow leapt to its death from a moving stock truck.

Witnesses watched in disbelief as the cow clambered out of the top tier of a two-level United Carriers stock truck to its death on State Highway One, near Uretiti, south of Whangarei.

United Carriers managing director Ajit Balasingham said the company was investigating the incident and he was awaiting information from staff before commenting further.

"There was an incident but I'm not sure exactly what happened and I'm looking into it," Mr Balasingham said.

In general, the company's trucks were checked regularly for maintenance and "to make sure there is no place for errors".

Witness George Beasley said he had been following the truck about 10.45am on Sunday when he saw the cow climb over the top tier.

Mr Beasley's vehicle was travelling at about 100km/h and he believed the truck was doing a similar speed.

"I said 'Good God, that cow looks like it's going to jump out'," he said.

"It hit head-first, virtually on the edge of the tarseal and rolled off to the side of the road."

As well as being quite distressing to watch, the flying cow could easily have caused a fatality, Mr Beasley said.

It was lucky the cow had jumped off the back corner and fallen off the roadway rather than straight into following traffic, he said.

"For something to jump from that height, probably a 600 to 700kg animal, at 100km/h...if you were close enough following behind you could wear the animal and be killed on impact, or if it hit the road you could run straight into it."

Mr Beasley said the truck driver was flagged down and was "a bit aghast" at losing an animal.

The driver said he would contact his company about the incident.

The cow was still alongside the highway at 4pm that afternoon.

"It definitely didn't die straight away -- it was still kicking and doing its death throes. It was going to die anyway but it should have been put out of its misery," he said.

Mr Beasley said he would like to see United Carriers look into the incident to prevent a repeat.

Land Transport Safety Authority spokesman Andy Knackstedt said the cow's escape could be a national first.

His colleagues in the LTSA head office had heard anecdotes of the odd sheep escaping from stock trucks, but never a cow.

There was a New Zealand standard for stock crate loading and design specifications, as well as guides on the number of animals allocated to crates.

"The crates have to be of dimensions such that they don't allow animals to get out," he said.

"There are also separate requirements that say animals must be loaded in such a way that their heads or limbs cannot protrude from the vehicle."

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)